Sparring Frustrations
by WardenN7
Summary: In which Hinami spars with Ayato, they both get frustrated with each other, and Hinami realizes that Ayato's face looks rather nice when he's not so angry all of the time. Post-manga. Slight AyaHina.


"Fueguchi, you have to hit harder on that one! How do you expect to be able to fight properly if you can't even do the moves right during sparring?!"

Hinami Fueguchi stared in panic at the angered look plastered on her teacher's face. Slightly ashamed at her performance, she looked to her feet, not being able to hold Ayato's stare for to long. It's been three months since she's joined Aogiri Tree, and while she's improved _a lot, _absolutely none of her performances during their lessons seem to please him.

"I-I'm sorry, Ayato-kun...I just-"

Quickly and deliberately, he dropped down and swept her feet from under her. Hinami gasped at his unexpected attack, tripping over her feet and falling on her back, head just barely scraping the ground. The wind knocked out of her completely, she stayed lying down, staring at the ceiling of their hideout with wide eyes.

Ayato walked over, lifting his leg up in the air before quickly bringing his heel down towards Hinami's face. Hinami would've screamed if she had her breath, but instead could only flinch, turning her head away in fear. This was the first time he's ever aimed for her face, but she knew the boy had a strong kick that would most likely leave a bruise.

The hybrid ghoul felt a _whoosh _of air near her face but felt no pain afterward. Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared at the heel of Ayato's boot in shock before glancing to his face. He was staring down at her, his lips turned in a frown of unhappiness, before placing his foot back on the ground.

"Idiot, you didn't even do anything to block the kick. You just sat there and stared."

Hinami couldn't stop the frustrated growl from escaping her throat. Ayato just wouldn't give her break, even though she had (surprisingly) improved a lot during her few months in Aogiri! On rare occasions she would take lessons with Naki, and he'd praise her for how well she was doing, and go slow when she couldn't figure out a move; Ayato didn't seem to work that way, however.

You either did it right or there would be consequences. He said that was how the real world worked, thus that was how they would practice, but the small girl couldn't help but think he could at least lighten up a bit.

"Maybe if you'd go a bit easier on me until I get the hang of it instead of going full-force I'd improve some!" the little girl snapped.

Ayato's eyes snapped to hers in anger, "Yeah? And what'll that do, brat? The only way you'll get better is if you fight someone who's better than you, and I'm better than you by miles! If you're not getting the move, it's your fault, not mine."

"But I understand _all _of the moves when Naki teaches me, and that's because he actually explains how to do it! How do you expect me to get this if you don't even tell me how? I'm not the problem here, you're the problem by being a terrible teacher!"

_Oh no._

Ayato's body twisted quickly, turning to stare at Hinami incredulously. She had gotten frustrated with him before, but she'd never gone so far as shouting at him. A part of her couldn't help but regret her words. Ayato had helped her, had agreed to teach her when none of the other ghouls would do so themselves, and she had thrown that in his face just because she couldn't get a move down.

Oh, but he was such a jerk though! How could she be expected to handle him when he acted like this? She knew that she was at least partially right, and he refused to listen to her about anything, as if she was some sort of idiot!

Ayato's eyes narrowed at Hinami, studying her as if she was some sort of mysterious creature, before muttering, "I get it now."

With a low growl Ayato began to stalk towards her, as if he was some sort of predator who had tired of playing with his prey, more than ready to go in for the kill. Hinami felt the hairs on her neck raise in panic, and before she really knew what she was doing, she stepped back, slipping into a fighting position that Ayato himself taught her, kakugan flashing brightly as she got into the defensive.

He moved towards her quicker than she expected and reached for the sleeves of her shirt. Hinami thought she could see the beginnings of his kagune exposing itself, and she quickly ducked before he could get a good hold on her. Instincts taking over completely, Hinami stuck her leg out and quickly spun around, only getting about half-way before she lost her balance and fell over on her knees, hands bracing herself on the ground.

Breathing heavily, she sat in the same place for a couple of moments before she realized what she had done. She quickly turned around and, to her immense surprise, saw Ayato lying on the floor, a look of disbelief across his face. She couldn't stop the surprised grin from forming on her lips.

"I can't believe this. I did it! I beat you in a fight, Ayato-kun! This is amazing! I never even did a move like that before, and suddenly I just bent down and- _umph!_"

Ayato Kirishima was looking down at her once more, but this time a small, and dare Hinami say it – _satisfied? _– smirk was playing on his lips.

"Remember our first lesson, Fueguchi? Never let your guard down, even when you think you've beaten your opponent."

Hinami's eyes widened in slight awe at the ghoul standing above her. For a mere moment, he didn't look so..._angry._ He looked happy – if you could even call it that; she was still unable to read him well. The irritated look in his eyes had dissipated and had been replaced with a sharp dash of playfulness, and Hinami was reminded suddenly, as she looked into his rather calm face, that he was the same age as her.

_How can he stand to be so angry all the time? He looks nice when he's not angry, and his face seems soft, like onii-chan's._

"Oi," Ayato nudged her cheek with his boot, voice sounding a bit off, cheeks tinted with pink, "quit staring at my face, Fueguchi. It's weird."

Startled back into reality, Hinami quickly pushed his foot out of the way and stood up, dusting the dirt off her clothes. Looking back to her mentor who was now looking the other way, an uncomfortable frown on his face, she spoke to him once more.

"Ayato-kun, I'm sorry for staring at your face like that, it won't happen again," honestly, saying that out loud made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but she shook it off and smiled at him instead, "and thank you, for teaching me how to fight. I think I'm finally starting to get that move now."

"Tch, it was nothing," Ayato muttered, turning his head away in discomfort. "And you don't have to thank me for it. It's not like I _chose _to teach you."

"Huh? But I heard from Naki that you offered to teach me since no one else would. He said that _you _said it'd be a shame for such a small fry like me to be killed when I had potential as a hybrid ghoul, and that-"

"Yeah, well, Naki's an idiot," Ayato might as well have yelled his response at her. Face flushing uncomfortable (_kind of like onee-chan's, really_), he turned away from her and muttered, "I thought we already talked about this. Just ignore _everything _Naki tells you from now on." A small pause, then, "And go on now, I can't spend all day sparring a shrimp like you."

Hinami giggled, "Okay, whatever you say, Ayato-kun."

Walking past him and to the door, she waved a hand in farewell, and with a slight smirk said, "It's nice to know you care about me so much, _Ayato._"

She swore she heard him yell a rather nasty curse at both her _and _Naki before she slammed the door and sprinted as far away from him as possible.

**(A/N: For Alice, my own personal AyaHina Queen. I love you, bruh!)**


End file.
